Daddy's Weekly Dollop

Here are some daddy's weekly dollops from last week . . . enjoy.

1)  Daddy Daughter Dance - yes, it was that time again where the girls and I had our annual daddy/daughter dance night.  One of the local churches host the annual event and I've attended the previous two years:  once with Campbell and once with both girls.

Campbell and her classmates with Morgan (a classmate who was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor)

2) Daddy/Daughter Date Night @ Chick-fil-A - One of our local Chick-fil-As host a daddy/daughter date night a few days before Valentines Day.  The girls and I went last year and we had a blast at this year's event.

3) The American Girl Dolls have violins - That's right, Ruthie (Maggie's) and Elizabeth (Campbell's) dolls have their own violins.

4)  Maggie's a nut . . . I've said this before, and I'll say this again . . . Maggie is a nut.  I absolutely love her personality.

a Maggie selfie found on my camera

5) The middle of my heart - For Valentines Day, Nana made a heart brownie.  When I asked the girls what kind of piece they wanted, they both said, "the middle."  They know which part of the brownie is the best . . . the soft middle.  Yummy!

Bonus:  For Valentines Day, I made the family some "heart" pancakes.  Here is a picture of their pancakes and a picture of mine:

Daddy's Weekly Dollop

Here are a few dollops from the past week . . . enjoy!

1) Go Eagles . . . my girls love cheering for their favorite teams.  For Maggie it's the Gamecocks and Winthrop.  For Campbell, it's Clemson, Winthrop, and Campbell.  Campbell?  Yes, Campbell . . . Campbell University.  Why you ask?  You guessed it . . .  because of the name "Campbell."  We went to the Winthrop vs. Campbell game on Saturday.

Since she was able to pick out her name, she loved this sign.

Winthrop's newest mascot, "Little Stuff"

Popcorn . . . good to the last drop.

Campbell with honorary NBA draftee Isaiah Austin at today's Winthrop game. He had been considered a first-round prospect in the 2014 NBA draft until he was diagnosed with Marfan syndrome  

2)  Go Hornets!  Another of the girls favorite teams are the Charlotte Hornets.  They are a favorite team because they have purple in their logo and purple is one of the girls' favorite colors (next to pink and rainbow).  For Christmas, Martha got me family tickets and shirts to go see the Hornets play.  It was the first time the girls have gone to a NBA game.  Here we are cheering on the Hornets:

3) Dueling Violinist - as you know, Campbell has started playing the violin.  Now Maggie has started playing the violin too.  Here she is at her first official lesson with Mr. Casey:

4) Ice skating in Rock Hill - that's right, Rock Hill had an outdoor ice skating rink over the past two months.  On one of the final days, Campbell and I decided to give it a try.  I guess I mean, Campbell gave it a try (they didn't have any size 17 skates for me).  Here she is:

5) I don't know about your church, but our church sings about dogs.  Just ask Maggie.  While singing at church the other Sunday, Maggie says (quite loudly), "Daddy, that says dog."  I'm happy to know that she was following along.

Bonus Dollop:  This must be where the girls got their musical beginnings . . . from Martha.  When Martha was in high school, she played the flute.  Here's Maggie giving it a try. 

Maggie (10 2012)

Daddy's Weekly Dollop - Merry Christmas

Here are some dollops from the last week.

1) He is the reason . . .  we took the girls to the Christmas Eve service at Church.  The girls love this particular service because it ends via candlelight while the congregation sings Silent Night.

2)  Campbell is getting more and more confident with her violin playing.  She played for the family during the Christmas Eve dinner. 

3)  Christmas morning - I'm not going to lie, my girls love Christmas morning . . . absolutely love it. It's so stressful as a parent trying to make sure everything goes right for them.  This year's hit was something we thought she'd like, but not absolutely love.  Taylor Swift needs to watch out . . . 

4)  Packing up and heading to Florida - Campbell now wants to be a singing veterinarian that works on dolphins when she grows up.  The problem . . .she's never seen a dolphin.  After the movie Dolphin Tale 2, Campbell cried for days, "I want to go see Winter" (the dolphin from the movie).  Well, that's what Martha and I got her and Maggie for Christmas . . . a trip to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium to see Winter and Hope.  We left the day after Christmas (Friday) and returned Monday.  

Touching Stingrays

Winter and her prosthetic tail

The touch Winter

The girls meeting Nathan Gamble who plays Sawyer in Dolphin Tale 1 and 2

Day 2 - The Florida Aquarium

December 28 - playing outdoors at the aquarium's water park

Watching the sun set over the water . . . on the east coast.

5) While it was mostly Campbell who wanted to see the dolphin, the trip seemed to be made for Maggie . . .

Daddy's Weekly Dollop

Greetings,
As we make our final preparations for Christmas, which is just a few days away, I stop to reflect on the things from last week that stood out.

1) Campbell is a violinist - Campbell just started playing the violin in August.  We found an instructor, Casey Mink, that is new to the area and he teaches using the suzuki method.  Campbell attended his violin camp over the summer (just might be a bonus picture of the week) and she loved it.  Campbell's always been interested in the violin.  Anyway, her first recital was this past week.  Here are a few pictures and video from the event:

Campbell and her instructor Casey Mink

Here are links to her two songs:  Solo & Group

2)  My Little Street Performer - Prior to the performance, Campbell has been too embarrassed to play her violin for anyone.  After the performance, well that's a different story.  Her recital was a confidence boost for her.  After the recital, her Nana and Pop took us out to dinner to this little restaurant with just a few customers.  The waitress asked her if she'd play.  She agreed.  She played her song for everyone.  After that, she said, "I want to play outside so everyone can hear me."  So we took her outside . . . then we might have posed her for a picture.

3) The weekly adventures of Tinker Bell:

4) 'Tis the Season - It's that time of the year that I begin making cookies for everyone.  This year's total came to 240 cookies.

I might have made just 1 special cookie for me

5) It's been 10 wonderful  years of marriage to my beautiful wife Martha.  We celebrated this milestone with a weekend trip to Charleston.  

My beautiful wife . . .  10 years ago.

My gift to Martha - an artist drew Martha's wedding dresss

The dress framed

We arrived at the Mills House - selfie infront of the Christmas tree

On Friday, we went to the movies and the fire alarms went off.  We evacuated and took a selfie in front of the fire truck

   

Us before we got a pedicure

I'm shocked that they didn't have slippers to fit me . . .  I'm sure I'm not the only person who wears a size 17.

My beautiful wife - celebrating 10 wonderful years with many more to come.

Weekly Bonus - as promised, here is Campbell at violin camp from this summer:

one tissue box violin (complete with a paint stir) - this is where it all started